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“I think we all let these kids down”

A Providence school that caters to developmentally disabled students allegedly violated the Americans with Disabilities Act for years by making students work manual labor for little or no pay and acting as a “pipeline” to a similar program once they graduated, the Target 12 Investigators have learned…

Students were paid “subminimum or no wages” for their labor, according to the Justice Department report. The investigation found that students who were paid made between 50 cents and $2 an hour and sometimes worked weekends.

“The workshop’s records pertaining to student hours are extremely limited,” the letter states. “It appears that no actual records were kept for each individual’s time in the workshop.”…

“I think there were very low expectations at that school … we weren’t preparing them to be successful as young adults,” Taveras told Target 12. “I think we all let these kids down.”

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If we would turn the minimum wage into a suggestion instead of a mandate, the developmentally disabled would be able to work for an agreed-to wage worth their value to the enterprise. As it is, they have to hide it and hope nobody finds out.

I actually dont’ really see anything wrong with this program. If students were forced to work against their will with no pay, I could see a problem. But it sounds like this is a program that teaches vocational skills to students who have limited cognitive abilities. This allows them to get a job once they finish school and allow them to become independent, or at least semi-independent.

After seeing the destruction caused by the deinstitutionalization movement several decades ago – namely letting thousands of non compos mentis individuals loose not unlike leaving the monkey cage at the zoo unlocked – I’m taking this with a truckload of salt.